Every year, the Houston Police Department shoots an average of 30 people. This number may seem pretty high, but it’s only half of the 2009 number. Sixty people were shot by the HPD last year and 27 of them were killed as a result. While most of the persons shot were wielding a weapon, one was unarmed and five of the shooting victims were mentally handicapped.
While no officers are being formally charged with the shootings, most are still under review by the department. The majority of officers in the department have said they prefer to use stun guns, but they are not always an option during certain confrontations.
While the department and the city government believe the shootings were all justified, many Houston criminal attorneys are cynical of the police officer’s choice to use deadly force in situations where stun guns may have been used effectively in place of guns.
To read more about the story, see the article in the Houston Chronicle. Image via thivierr [Flickr].